<p>Hey guys, I'm planning on applying ED to vanderbilt and wondering about financial aid. My income bracket is about 190-210 and my parents are willing to give about 15-20 per year for tuition. They're only willing to pay a fraction of what they can pay so I'm probably going to have to pay off a lot of loans. I'm trying not to top 100k in loans. Will this be possible with Vanderbilt's financial aid programs? </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>In that income bracket, you’re likely going to be asked to pay at least 40,000 a year, but perhaps even as much as 60,000, just depending on the particulars of your finances. Vanderbilt guarantees to meet 100% of your need, but that is based on their calculations of what your family can afford, not based on what your family is willing to pay. You’re going to get similar numbers from all other 100% need-met institutions.</p>
<p>You can get a better estimate here:</p>
<p><a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator;
<p>According to Vanderbilt’s recently mailed Financial Aid brochure, even with your parents’ income, you might qualify for between $15,600 - $27,600 of aid. And remember, Vanderbilt adheres to the following:</p>
<p>From the National Association for College Admission Counseling Statement of Principles of Good Practice:
“Early Decision (ED) is the application process in which students make a commitment to a first-choice institution where, if admitted, they definitely will
enroll. While pursuing admission under an Early Decision plan, students may apply to other institutions, but may have only one Early Decision application pending at
any time. Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may decline the offer of admission and
be released from the Early Decision commitment. The institution must notify the applicant of the decision within a reasonable and clearly stated period of time after the
Early Decision deadline. Usually, a nonrefundable deposit must be made well in advance of May 1. The institution will respond to an application for financial aid at or
near the time of an offer of admission. Institutions with Early Decision plans may restrict students from applying to other early plans. Institutions will clearly articulate
their specific policies in their Early Decision agreement.”</p>
<p>Follow Pancaked’s advice and get an estimate from the university’s net price calculator. </p>
<p>Question for Pancaked or anyone else with Vandy FA knowledge: The FA estimate that comes with one’s ED acceptance could differ from the final FA award that comes in April, correct? What is Nickchan1’s best way to ensure what his official FA offer will be? And, if it differs greatly (for some reason) it looks like he would be out of luck in attending any college due to the ED requirement of having to withdraw ALL applications after ED acceptance.</p>
<p>@Living61 @pancaked thanks so much for the replies guys. Living basically asked all the q’s i want answers to</p>
<p>My sons final FA offer was for the same amount that he received with his ED1 acceptance letter . The award was very close to the amount calculated on the net price calculator. No surprises there.</p>
<p>@Momthreeboys what year is your son? Has your FA offer been the same every year? </p>
<p>I don’t know all the details about FA with ED applicants but any changes between the initial and final FA offer should be negligible. There is no “bait and switch” routine.</p>
<p>My son is in his second year. Our financials changed slightly this year as did his FA award.</p>
<p>D was accepted ED2 and is a current freshman. Her original financial aid offer was very close to the net price calculator. I think that as long as you are able to estimate your financials pretty well using the NPC, your ED offer should be basically the same as the final package. Of course, if your family has a complicated situation financially (own a business, for example) the NPC might be lest trustworthy. However, I have found the financial aid office to be very helpful, and I am sure they would be willing to work with you to give you a solid estimate.</p>
<p>We did our taxes and filed the FAFSA and CSS Profile very early in the year. The financial aid office promptly sent us an updated offer, which was actually better than the ED2 offer. When D received the CV scholarship, the offer was again revised and improved. </p>
<p>We are a family who absolutely needed solid financial aid to afford Vanderbilt, but my daughter was 100% certain Vandy was her first choice. We had heard the warnings that an ED offer might not be as generous as a regular decision offer, but we decided the increased chance of acceptance, along with the peace of finishing the college search process fairly early, was worth the risk to us. I feel confident that D’s ED2 status had no impact on her financial aid offer.</p>
<p>S2 is current junior and accepted ED. The estimate that came with decision was adjusted a bit after our taxes were filed as there were items (contribution to retirement plans by employers) that we did realize that should have been listed as income but Vandy did. This did change the Final package a bit with less money. </p>
<p>His FA has changed over the years due to good summer internships. Thru Vanderbilt he was able to get a great paid internship for summers his Freshman and Sophomore years. Unfortunately most of the income that he earned over the summer became a direct negative impact on his FA. </p>
@Pancaked – D just got in off the waitlist. Nice FA package (meets all of our demonstrated need). She’s gotten a few outside scholarships, not more than 2k. Will Vandy reduce its aid package by that amount?
Based upon past experience, we anticipate that many of our first-year undergraduate students will receive outside scholarships or other gift assistance to help fund their educational costs. Any outside scholarship(s) must be taken into account as part of your total need-based financial aid package, and cannot be counted as part of, or as a replacement for, your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). If an adjustment in your need-based financial aid package is necessary, the outside scholarship will be used first to replace an equivalent amount of academic year and/or summer earnings expectations. Receipt of outside scholarship funds may sometimes result in a reduction of other grant/gift funds, but such reductions will be made only as a last resort and only if no other options exist.
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/scholarships/faq.php
@swimmom2020 I believe outside scholarships are first applied toward the expected student contribution and will replace the work study portion first. If there are still outside funds beyond that, it will impact the grant aid.
congrats to your daughter, swimmom!
@work2Live is exactly correct regarding outside scholarships.
Thank you! She’s thrilled.